Al-Battani

Al-Battani was an arabe astrologer, astronomer and mathematician. He was born in 855, in Turkey and died in 923, in Syira. He is also called as the "Ptolémée des arabes". His names affirms taht he is Muslim

He wrote a book called the Kitab az-Zij, which had a great inflluence on European astronomy.One of his bect known achievment in astronomy was the determination of the solar year as being 365 days, 5hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds. He also discovered the movement of the Sun's opogee. He also calculated the values for the precession of the equinoxes (54.5" per year, or 1° in 66 years) and the inclinaison of the earth axis ( 23° 35')

Unknowing the discovery of an indian astronomer Aryabhata he introduced the use of sinus in calculation and partlyf the tangent which formed the modern trigonometry. He used ideas of Al-Marwazi on tangents ( or "shadows") to develop methods for calcuting tangents and cotangentzs, and he has prepared tables.

Al-Battani is sometimes known by a Latinized version of his name, being Albategnius, Albategni or Albatenius. His full name was Abu Abdallah Mohammad ibn Jabir ibn Sinan al-Raqqi al-Harrani al-Sabi al-Battani. Al-Battani’s father was Jabir ibn Sinan al-Harrani who had a high reputation as an instrument maker in Harran. The name makes the identification certain that al-Battani himself was skilled in making astronomical instruments and there is a good indication that he learnt these skills from his father.

Early Life and Career

Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Jabir Ibn Sinan al-Battani al-Harrani was born around 858 C.E. in Harran. Battani was first educated by his father Jabir Ibn San’an al-Battani, who also was a well-known scientist. He then moved to Raqqa, situated on the bank of the Euphrates, where he received advanced education and later on flourished as a scholar. At the beginning of the 9th century, he migrated to Samarra, where he worked till the end of his life. His family had been members of the Sabian sect, a religious sect of star worshippers from Harran. Being worshipers of the stars meant that the Sabians had a strong motivation for the study of astronomy. Al-Battani, unlike Thabit, another mathematician from his home town, was not a believer in the Sabian religion. His name “Abu Abdallah Mohammad” indicates that he was certainly a Muslim.

Death

Historians all agree that Al-Battani passed away in 317 H. /929 A.D., near the city of Moussul in Iraq. He was regarded as one of the most famous Arab astronomers. He dedicated all his life until his death to the observation of planets and stars.

Al-Battani